Telephone station



Jan. 17, 1939. E, H. YAEGER TELEPHONE STATION Filed June l5, 1936 2 SheetS-Shee. l

ELE P HONE THQUT LEAVING TTORNEY.

Jan. 17, 1939. E, H, YEGER 2,143,966

TELEPHONE STATION Filed June l5, 1936 2 Sheets-ShamV 2 /J /0 /a 36 A/0 INVENTOR.

`@MU/v0 H. M5656 x Patented Jan.' 17, 1939 UNITED sTATEs PATENT oFFl'cE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in telephone pay stations.

It frequently occurs that tourists and other drivers of automobiles find it necessary to use 5. the telephone, and in order to do so, they must first park their cars, and go into a building where public phones are to be found. Strangers do not, as a rule, know where the public telephones are located, and after they have been located, they 10 must discover a parking place, which is often very difficult.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide an outside telephone stand, preferably of the pay-station type, that can be located at l5 points along the streets, along highways, in parks and in filling stations and which -can be used by occupants of automobiles without leaving the same.

An important object of the invention is to-pro- I vide in adjacency to a telephone stand of the above stated character, a barrier or fender in the form of afence railing post or curb which establishes the position of a motor-vehicle relative to the stand, so that an occupant of the same 25 may reach the telephone for use, without leaving the vehicle.

The barrier at the same time protects the telephone instrument and stand from being damaged by a vehicle coming accidentally in contact there- 30 with.

It is another object of the invention to provide in association with a telephone instrument mounted on a stand as hereinabove described, means for moving the instrument from the stand w to within easy reach of, the occupant of the vehicle, means to automatically return the instrument to its original position, means for enclosing the instrument when not in use so as to protect it from the weather, and several other details of 4o construction, all of which will fully appear in the course of the following description.

The above and other objects that may become apparent as the description proceeds are attained by means of a construction and relationship of 45 parts that will now be described in detail, reference for this purpose being had to the accompanying drawings in which the invention has been illustrated and in which:

Figure l is a vertical section of a telephone 50 stand, showing an automobile positioned adjacent the same and showing, by dotted lines, the position of the telephone when in use;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the upper portion of the station, the telephone being retracted Il and the doors of the housing closed;

Figure 3 is a plan showing a plurality of, duplex stations arranged on an elongated isle of safety and surrounded by a U-shaped driveway;

Figure 4 is a plan view showing a single telephone stand on an isle having a curb constitut- 5 ing the barrier which, as stated above, determines the position of a motor vehicle relative to the stand; and

Figure 5 is a front elevation of the telephone, showing it provided with a unitary transmitter and receiver.

In the drawings numeral E designates the upper surface of the roadway, street or park on which the automobile 1 is supported. Numeral 8 designates the upper surface of a concrete plat- 1l form, isle of safety or sidewalk, and 9 the post which supports the housing I0, in which the telephone is stored when not in use.

The post 9 is preferably made of concrete, although any other suitable material can be employed, such as brick, stone or iron.

A large pipe II extends from the bottom to a point near the top of the post and when the latter is made from moldable material, the pipe II is put into Athe mould before the material and becomes a non-removable part of the post. A conduit I2 extends entirely through the post and contains light wires for the sign I3.

A conduit I4 extends upwardly from the bottom of the post to a point I5, where it makes a right angle turn and terminates in a bell box I6. Conduit I4 is provided with a T I'I from which a short length of conduit projects which terminates in an outlet box I8. An arm I9 is provided at its inner end with an opening thru which the conduit I4 extends, and the outer end of this arm has a vertical pivot 20. The upper end of pivot 20 is provided with an opening for the reception of the bail of the padlock 2|.

A box or housing I0 of substantially cubical 40 shape, has a bottom 22 that rests on the brackets 23A and an end wall 24 that fits against the outer surface of the post. Wall 24 has openings for the conduit I4, another for the branch from the T, and also an opening for arm I9, and is secured to the post by suitable means. The front end of the housing is formed by two doors 25 secured to it by means of spring hinges 25 that tend to keep them in closed position. The adjacent edges of the doors have cut-outs 21 that 50 form an opening for the handle 28 which projects forwardly from the upper end of the telephone 29.

A` lazy tong support 30 has its inner end attached to the sleeve 1I through which the pivot u 20 extends, and is locked in position thereon by means of the padlock. The telephone is provided with two rearwardly projecting brackets 32 to which the other end of the lazy tong is attached. Since the lazy tong support is common, it has been shown more or less diagrammatically. A pulley 33 is provided near the top of the pipe and a cord 34 passes around this pulley and into the housing l0 where it terminates in a snap 35. The other end of the cord has a weight 86.

The post is provided near its lower end with an opening 31 that is closed by a door 38. The door and opening provide access to the pipe li, for the purpose of attaching the weight or replacing the cord in case it breaks. The telephone is provided on its rear side With a ring 39 for engagement with the snap.

The weight 36 and cord 34 serve to retract the telephone after it has been used. A box 40 is attached to the bottom of the telephone and serves as a receptacle for the telephone directory 4 I.

A plate 42, having rounded corners 43, is carried by the telephone and serves to open the doors 25 and to hold them open when the telephone is in use.

An elastic cord 44 has one end attached to the telephone and the other provided with a hook 45. The telephone is provided with the usual transmitter 46, receiver 41 and dial 48.

When the French type show n in Figure 5 is used, both the receiver and the transmitter are carried by the member 49.

Referring now more particularly to Figure 1, it will be seen that the wheel 50 of the automobile is placed adjacent to the guide wall or curb 5|. The driver is now in position to reach the handle 28, and by exerting a pull thereon, the telephone is moved into the position designated by dotted lines. The hook 45 can be anchored to the door handle 52, or to some other stationary portion of the car for the purpose of holding the telephone while it is being used. After the call has been made, the hook 45 is released and the weight 36 pulls the telephone back into full line position.

In Figure 4, a circular base 8a has been shown with a segment removed. The wall 5| forms a guide for the car.

In- Figure 3 a base or isle of safety 8b has been provided which is of sufficient length to accommodate three cars, and the stations are double, so that two people can use the same station.

'I'he arrows indicate the path of the cars into and out of the space reserved for the telephones. The stations are each provided with a bell I6 so that long distance calls can be perfected from them.

The telephones are arranged so that they can be easily removed and replaced if it should be found desirable to remove them at night. 'I'he cod 52 is provided with a plug 53 so that connection can be quickly made at the outlet I8. By removing the lock 2|, the telephone can be disconnected from the pivot 20.

It will be apparent from the above thatoutside telephone pay stations of the type described are a great convenience, as it makes it possible to telephone without first nding a parking place, and even without leaving the automobile. Telephone stations of the kind described can be constructed at a reasonable cost, and can be located at convenient places in downtown sections, parks. along the highways, etc.

Attention is called in particular to the guide wall 5| that serves to space the automobile the proper distance from the station, as this makes it possible to get the automobile properly positioned without any special effort. In this connection, it should be clearly 'understood that the guide wall as shown and described, is merely a convenient and practical means for providing a barrier or fender which determines the position of a motor vehicle relative to the telephone stand so that the instrument may be moved within easy reach of the occupant of the vehicle. Other barrier means such as a fence or a post, or a railing or the like may be employed within the spirit of this invention.

It should further be understood that while for the purposes of this invention, it is desirable to employ telephone instruments of the pay-station type, it is well within the range of possibilities, especially Where a number of the stands are placed within a limited area, as is illustrated in Figure 3, to use ordinary instruments, in which case the money required for the use of the telephones, is collected by an attendant.

In addition to determining the position of motor vehicles with respect to the telephone stands, the barriers are also useful and in fact essential to prevent careless drivers from damaging the stands and the instruments mounted thereon, from being damaged by impact of the vehicles.

The elastic cord 44 makes it possible to anchor the telephone to various types of automobiles, as it will stretch suiciently to reach the door handle, or steering wheel of any type of car. The cord 44 is weak, compared to the other parts, so that it will break without doing any damage, il the car should be moved before the hook has been disconnected.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new iszv 1. An outside telephone station, comprising ln combination, a hollow supporting post, a weight in the post. a pulley near the upper end thereof, a flexible tension member having one end connected to the weight and the other passing over the pulley and to the outside of the post, a housing secured to the post, the flexible member terminating in the housing, a pivot pin in the housing adjacent the inner end thereof, the outer end of the housing being open, a lazy tong support removably attached to the pivot, a telephone attached to the outer end of the support, means for effecting a quick detachable connection between the flexible member and the telephone,

whereby it will be retracted into the housing when ber to hold the telephone extended in opposition to the action of the weight.

2. Means for supporting a telephone comprising a hollow supporting post, a weight in the post, a pulley near the upper end thereof, a flexible tension member having one end connected to the weight and passing over the -pulley to the outside of the post, a housing on the post, the llexible member having its free end normally within the housing, an extensible carrier for the telephone normally within the housing, and means connecting the free end oi' the flexible member to the carrier whereby the latter will be retracted by the action of the weight after extension.

3., Means for supporting a telephone comprising a hollow supporting post, a. weight in the post, a. pulley near the upper end thereof, a ilexible tension member having one end connected with the weight and passing over the pulley to the outside of the post, a housing on the post, the exible member having its free end normally in the housing, an extensible carrier for the telephone normally inside the housing, means for eiectlng a detachable connection between the flexible member and the carrier whereby the latter will be retracted into the housing after extension, by the action of the weight, and means for holding the carrier in an extended position by connection with a relatively stationary object.

EDMUND H. YAEGER. 

